October 17, 2016

White Dog and the rest of the White Dog Army are not comfortable when Steve climbs the ladder to the roof. They cluster around below, necks craned upward and pace nervously...especially when they cannot see him or what he is doing.

Although it always guarantees a late spurt of summer heat, Steve had gone up to shutdown our evaporative cooler for the season. It involves draining and removing the water line, closing the vents into the house and making the unit wind and cold-proof.

While he is up there Steve usually takes a few extra minutes to hose down the solar panels to remove dust and nature leavings.

The two procedures require Steve to go up and down the ladder to bring the hose and the cooler cover and needed tools. And then he carefully carries things back to ground level; things that dogless families might just toss over the parapet for convenience and collect later. With Steve's method, he is enthusiastically greeted each time his feet hit terra firma. It is almost a Welcome Home. And of course each Army member must sniff anything being transported in either direction.

And when a trip UP is compounded with a trip DOWN...to the closed off basement...the WDA is beside itself trying to find where Steve has vanished. Often they can hear sounds in the normally silent downstairs and dash from heater vent to heater vent trying to decipher the noises. They bark at the gate blocking access to the steep stairs that lead to the hand dug basement. They call and howl seeking a missing vital pack member.

Again when he returns to view, a Welcome Home Celebration is held.

Steve has estimated that the tasks, were he able to do it alone and without any pup noticing or supervising, would take about 45 minutes. With an Army to aid and assist, the morning was just about over when everyone came in for long drinks of water and requests for extra duty snack pay.

I was about to suggest that it was too soon after breakfast when Steve nodded his agreement. "Yes! That was grueling! Let's all have some cookies!" No one said no.